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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday ruled out any role for India in the Afghan peace process.

“India has no role in Afghanistan,” Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said at the weekly media briefing while responding to a query about Pakistan’s position on India’s part in the reconciliation process.

This was in sharp contrast to what Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had told the National Assembly last month. “Since India is present in Afghanistan, its cooperation in this regard (facilitating a negotiated settlement of the Afghan conflict) will also be required,” he had told legislators.

US Special Envoy for Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Amb Zalmay Khalilzad during his ongoing regional tour travelled to New Delhi where he met Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. At the conclusion of his Indian trip, he had said: “We discussed how to help Afghans achieve enduring peace and areas of possible cooperation, both bilaterally and regionally.”

The FO spokesman in his briefing acknowledged that Pakistan has a difficult relationship with India. He said that despite Pakistan’s efforts for normalisation no concrete progress could be achieved in ties with India. “You all know that India is not willing to engage with Pakistan,” he reminded.

Talking about ceasefire violations by India along the Line of Control (LoC), he said, New Delhi was justifying it by levelling baseless allegations of infiltration from the Pakistan side.

“Indian mal-intent is also apparent from their repeated ceasefire violations instead of using the hotline contact between both sides,” he said.

The spokesman rejected Indian claims that Pakistan had planned a cross-LoC raid by alleged ‘Border Action Teams’.

“No such teams exist in Pakistan. The Pakistan army is a responsible and professional force which is committed to protecting the lives and property of its own citizens and would not resort to such irresponsible provocation,” he maintained.

He renewed the call for New Delhi to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to monitor ceasefire violations.

“Pakistan has consistently maintained, including officially to India, the vital need for the smooth functioning of UNMOGIP in line with UN Security Council’s resolutions for maintaining peace and tranquility. Despite levelling false allegations, India restricts UNMOGIP allowing virtually no movement on the Indian side in contrast with Pakistan which allows unhindered functioning,” he said.

The spokesman said Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit Qatar from January 21-22.

“Issues of mutual interest will be discussed during the visit. The prime minister will discuss the import of manpower by Qatar from Pakistan,” he said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday telephoned Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss the ongoing international efforts for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

During the call, Ghani “expressed his gratitude for Pakistan’s sincere facilitation of these efforts” that were initiated by US special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Khan assured the Afghan president that Pakistan was making “sincere efforts for a negotiated settlement” of the Afghan conflict through an inclusive peace process, “as part of shared responsibility”.

Ghani invited the premier to visit Afghanistan at his earliest convenience and Khan reciprocated by inviting the Afghan president to visit Pakistan.

“Both leaders also agreed to remain engaged and create an environment for resolving all outstanding issues,” the press release said.

The conversation between the two leaders comes as Khalilzad earlier today arrived in Pakistan as part of a regional tour to four countries for talks on the Afghan peace process.

According to the Foreign Office, the US special envoy is expected to meet Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders during his stay and he will ask Pakistan to help convince the Afghan Taliban to come to the negotiating table. “Pakistan has also maintained [that] we want an Afghan-led Afghan-owned solution to [the] imbroglio,” the FO spokesperson said in a statement.

Pakistan is believed to be making serious efforts to arrange a meeting between Khalilzad and Afghan Taliban leaders in Islamabad to help break the deadlock and speed up the Afghan peace process.

The US envoy is actively trying to broker a political solution to the Afghan conflict and has held multiple meetings with the leadership of Afghanistan as well as that of other countries in the region, including Pakistan.

He has also held three rounds of talks with the Afghan Taliban in order to reach a settlement that would allow the US to withdraw its army and end a 17-year-old war — America’s longest.

Authorities fear Mohammed Zuraibi al-Zoabi, 28, may have left the country with help from the Saudi embassy.

Canadian authorities are searching for a Saudi citizen accused of sexual assault after he failed to show up for a court hearing in the Canadian city of Sydney, Nova Scotia, the local Chronicle Herald newspaper said.

Local police told the Chronicle Herald that al-Zoabi’s passport was given as collateral when the 28-year-old student posted his $37,500 bail in cash, a hefty sum provided by the Saudi Arabian embassy.

“It should be impossible (for him to leave the country or enter without a passport) unless Saudi Arabia furnished him with a Saudi travel document,” Lee Cohen, a Halifax-based immigration lawyer, told the Chronicle Herald.

“They have done this before.”

Asked by the paper whether he was still in Canada, al-Zoabi said “probably not … I can’t tell you that”, adding that he wouldn’t come back for the trial because he feared they might be “unfair”.

“I can’t respect that,” he said of the warrant and charges. “Everybody’s against me just because I’m a (racial expletive) and foreign student despite the fact that we boosted so much money to that island of Canada.”

The Saudi Arabian embassy did not respond to a Chronicle Herald request for comment on al-Zoabi.

Jessica Hines, the manager of Kevin’s Towing in Sydney, Cape Breton, described al-Zoabi as “rude, obnoxious and thought he was above women and the rules”.

“First time I met him consisted of him coming into my office and snapping his fingers because I didn’t greet him quick enough as I was busy,” Hines said.

“I immediately marked my dominance by telling him, ‘I don’t jump for men when they snap their fingers at me’, and made him sit and wait for near an hour.”

Between March 2012 and April 2016, al-Zoabi racked up 34 infractions ranging from speeding, driving uninsured, driving without a valid license, unregistered and uninspected vehicles. Unpaid to this day, the fines amount to $68,967.

News of al-Zoabi’s suspected escape will only serve to further exacerbate Canada’s already poor relations with Saudi Arabia, which last year barred the Canadian ambassador to Riyadh after Ottawa criticised Saudi authorities for detaining female activists.

Most recently, Canada agreed to grant asylum to a Saudi teenager fleeing abuse from her family.

Rahaf Alqunun, 18, was greeted by Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Saturday, ending an ordeal that saw her stranded at Thailand’s international airport for about a week.

Riyadh was already struggling to deal with the blowback from the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul late last year.

Turkish and Western intelligence officials have either hinted at or directly blamed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder but Saudi monarch King Salman left his son’s portfolios unchanged in the latest reshuffle.

CANADA – A Saudi teenager who fled her family and got stranded at a Bangkok airport has arrived in Canada after being granted asylum there. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, had been trying to reach Australia via Bangkok but was initially told to return to Kuwait, where her family were waiting.

She refused to fly back and barricaded herself into her airport hotel room, attracting international attention.

She said she had renounced Islam, which is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland introduced the teenager as “a very brave new Canadian” but said that Ms al-Qunun was tired from her ordeal and long journey and would not be making any public statement on Saturday.

“She is a very brave young woman who has been through a lot… and she is now going to go to her new home,” the minister added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier told reporters that his country had granted a request from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to grant asylum.

“Canada has been unequivocal that we will always stand up for human rights and women’s rights around the world,” he said.

How did she reach Canada?

She arrived in Pearson International Airport on a Korean Air flight from Seoul on Saturday.

She had tweeted photos that appeared to show her aboard the jet just before take-off, with the words, “I did it!”

Ms Qunun told the BBC earlier that she was afraid her family would kill her.

“I can’t study and work in my country, so I want to be free and study and work as I want,” she said.

Separately, she told AFP news agency she had suffered physical and psychological abuse from her family, including being locked in her room for six months for cutting her hair.

A spokesperson for her family told the BBC that they did not wish to comment and all they cared about was the young woman’s safety.

The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said it considered her to be a legitimate refugee and welcomed Canada’s decision to grant her asylum.

“International refugee law and overriding values of humanity have prevailed,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.

Canada has previously angered Saudi Arabia after calling for the release of detained women’s rights activists in the country – prompting Riyadh to expel Canada’s ambassador and freeze all new trade.

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How did she end up in Bangkok?

She had been on a trip to Kuwait with her family when she fled on a flight to the Thai capital, saying she intended to take a connecting flight to Australia and had an Australian visa.

But she says her passport was seized by a Saudi diplomat when he met her coming off the flight in Bangkok, leaving her stranded.

A Saudi envoy in Bangkok denied any official Saudi involvement in Ms Qunun’s detention, and her passport was later returned.Thai officials initially described her case as a “family problem” and said she would be repatriated back to Kuwait the next day.

However, Ms Qunun sent a series of tweets pleading for help from her airport hotel room, and her case was picked up by Human Rights Watch and journalists. Thailand allowed her to stay and the UN assessed her claim for asylum.

ISLAMABAD: While the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has expressed satisfaction over Pakistan’s efforts as well as plans against money laundering, India continues to raise questions about terror financing.

“The proceedings went well and almost all the FATF members appreciated measures taken by Pakistan and actions planned by it,” sources told after the conclusion of a three-day conference in Sydney, Australia.

The sources said that India kept asking questions about the measures Pakistan had taken against Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other such organisations. It dem­anded that the steps be made public.

The Pakistani delegation explained that all the actions recommended by the FATF had been taken and a compliance report submitted to its headquarters.

The delegation also made it clear that it would be the Pakistan government’s decision whether or not to publicize actions taken against banned organisations and would not succumb to desires of any specific member.

Most other members seem satisfied with Islamabad’s efforts against money laundering, terror financing

Pakistani officials also made it clear that they would not respond to verbal questions from adversaries but would be ready to provide comprehensive responses if written queries were submitted.

The sources said the Indian delegates then filed a total of 28 questions with the FATF, which were shared with the Pakistani delegation.

Pakistan assured the FATF that responses to the questions would be provided in the next review meeting scheduled to be held in Paris on Feb 17-18. All the questions raised by the Indian delegates pertained to actions taken to block terror financing.

The sources said that Pakistan also told the FATF that there was no need for amendments to anti-money laundering laws and the Paris-based financial watchdog accepted Pakistan’s view.

While the action plan presented by Pakistan was accepted by the FATF as reasonable, the country would now follow up with implementation through strengthening of agencies and processes to combat money laundering and terror financing under international obligations.

The Pakistani delegation was led by Finance Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan and comprised representatives of the State Bank of Pakistan, National Counter Terrorism Authority, Federal Investigation Agency, Federal Board of Revenue and Financial Monitoring Unit.

An official claimed that the FATF had highlighted a few matters that were doable by May this year, but progress would need to be registered by February this year. A broader examination of the full compliance with international commitments will take place at another meeting in May, possibly in Sri Lanka or Australia.

Officials said the FATF had gone through the report dispatched by Pakistan last week before the review meetings with the Pakistani delegation involving questions and answers about the performance so far and the way forward. They said the FATF team appeared convinced over the steps and measures taken by the authorities to combat terror financing and money laundering in line with the UN resolutions.

The Pakistani delegation explained the implementation status of plans for various government agencies. Its report identified Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran borders as key routes for terror financing and money laundering and reported that a total of 4,643 suspected transactions had been identified and blocked since 2015, including 3,677 suspected transaction reports and 966 financial intelligence reports.

A total of 1,167 transactions were seized last year alone, including 975 STRs and 210 financial intelligence reports.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have finalized the terms and conditions of a support package of about $6.2 billion expected to be announced by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during his visit to the country starting on Sunday (Jan 6) to help Islamabad address its balance of payments challenge.

He said the UAE’s package was exactly of the same size and terms and conditions as given by Saudi Arabia. The UAE package was finalized on Thursday evening, he said.

With this, Pakistan would get a total saving of about $7.9bn on oil and gas imports from the two friendly countries — accounting for more than 60 per cent of annual oil import bill of about $12-13bn, he said. This includes about $3.2bn each of oil supplies on deferred payments from the UAE and Saudi Arabia and about $1.5bn trade finance from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).

The total financing support from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, including the ITFC’s trade finance, would be around $13.9-14bn when cash deposits of $3bn each from the two countries were also included, he said.

This is in addition to a deep-conversion oil refinery to be set up by Parco — a joint venture of Pakistan and Abdu Dhabi — worth $5-6bn at Khalifa Point and an expected petro-chemical complex by Saudi Arabia at Gwadar Oil City.

On top of that, the government has also started backchannel discussions with Qatar for some relief in terms of reduction in LNG prices or a relaxed payment schedule, but that is now at an early stage.

In reply to a question, the cabinet member said Pakistan was deepening relationships with all three friendly Islamic nations without compromising bilateral ties for geo-political reasons.

He said the UAE crown prince would be paying a two-day visit, adding that all arrangements had been finalized in this regard.

He said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was expected to arrive in the country in the first week of February and an MoU for establishing a petro-chemical complex was still being worked out on the request of Riyadh.

Pakistan has already received $2bn in cash deposit from Saudi Arabia at an interest rate of 3.18pc while the third tranche of $1bn is due in the first week of February. The Saudi oil facility would also start rolling out this month with an average $274 million per month.

Pakistan is currently importing about eight cargoes of LNG every month, costing $4.2 to $4.5bn a year and more than one-third of this could be financed through ITCF support. With support from Qatar, Pakistan is expecting about $9bn cushion in total oil and gas import bill.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday mocked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for funding a library in Afghanistan, suggesting it was of no use.

Trump brought up India’s aid during a rambling press appearance at a cabinet meeting as he defended his push for the United States to invest less overseas.

While stating that he got along with Modi, Trump said the Indian leader was “constantly telling me he built a library in Afghanistan”.

“You know what that is? That’s like five hours of what we spend,” Trump said.

“And we’re supposed to say, ‘Oh, thank you for the library.’ I don’t know who’s using it in Afghanistan,” Trump said.

It was unclear to which project Trump was referring, but India has committed $3 billion in assistance to Afghanistan since US-led forces toppled the extremist Taliban regime after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Projects have included the reconstruction of an elite high school in Kabul and scholarships to India for 1,000 Afghan students each year.

Inaugurating the Afghan parliament building in 2015 after reconstruction financed by India, Modi promised to promote programmes “empowering Afghan youth with modern education and professional skills”.

India has been one of the most enthusiastic countries over the US mission in Afghanistan, where the former Taliban regime sheltered fiercely anti-Indian militants.

Trump last month moved to pull all 2,000 US troops out of Syria and cut by half the 14,000-strong force in Afghanistan, calling for less spending overseas.

Alluding in Wednesday’s remarks to the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Trump said: “Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan.”

Prime Minister Imran Khan met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on Friday during his first official two-day visit to Turkey.

The leaders discussed enhancing of relations and strengthening of economic ties between Pakistan and Turkey.

Following their meeting, the two leaders addressed a joint press conference where Imran Khan highlighted that the roots of Turkish-Pakistan relationship go back to a very long time and he wished to take this affiliation to a much higher level — “a level that so far has not been reached”.

The premier said Pakistan wanted to strengthen its bond with Turkey, not just in trade ties but also in “foreign relations, in our various attitudes to terrorism”.

He said Turkey had built over 2 million houses in the last six or seven years which Pakistan would learn from, as it was the first time in Pakistan that “such an ambitious plan has been undertaken”.

The prime minister was referring to the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme launched by the federal government for low-income individuals in the country.

Imran Khan also talked about the health reforms of Turkey and the insurance coverage of the underprivileged population, who all had access to quality healthcare, which the premier believed was “probably one of the most important aspects of a civilised society”.

Also speaking at the occasion, President Erdogan said he hoped 2019 will be a year when Turkey and Pakistan would take important steps; whether it be high-level strategic council meetings, or the Afghanistan-Pakistan-Turkey Trilateral Istanbul Summit. “The steps that we are going to take within this framework are very important to me,” he maintained.

“Meetings between our delegations focused on defence industry cooperation, social and cultural issues, and especially [the] fight against Fethullah [Gulen’s] Terrorist Organisation,” the Turkish president said.

Erdogan expressed gratitude over the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s decision where it termed the organisation running the Pak-Turk schools a terrorist outfit.

The Turkish president further said his country will host the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan for a meeting geared toward bringing peace to Afghanistan. The trilateral meeting would take place in Istanbul after Turkey’s March local election, he said.

The prime minister is accompanied on the trip by Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Minister for Plan­ning, Development and Reforms Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar, Adviser to the PM on Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production Razak Dawood and Special Assistant to the PM on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari.

According to Turkish daily Yeni Şafak, the premier in a meeting with Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and ministry officials said that Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to cooperate in the field of health by setting up a task force.

The premier also visited the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk — founder of modern Turkey — where he laid a wreath and signed a formal guest book, Yeni Safak reported.

As per the report, in his message Prime Minister Khan wrote that Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had described Ataturk as “one of the greatest men who has ever lived”.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister met with a delegation of the Turkey-Pakistan Business Council of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey.

While addressing the delegation, the premier said that Pakistan in the 1970s “went wrong because we had a socialist mindset which became a deterrent to wealth creation.”

The premier continued that though the socialist regime stepped down in the subsequent decades, the mindset prevailed among the bureaucracy. He added that the PTI-led government, however, supports investments and is taking measures to create money-making opportunities.

He assured the Turkish business leaders of an investor-friendly environment in Pakistan under the PTI government. “We, as a government, are now making every effort to remove impediments in the way of investments,” he said, adding that a separate cell has been established at the Prime Minister Secretariat to monitor the process.

“We have already discussed the issues being faced by Turkish investors in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the current government’s top priority was the export sector.

The prime minister referred to the Chinese model as his inspiration for governance. “They [China] have taken 700 million people out of poverty in the last 30 years. Our main concern is also to take people out of poverty.”

It is expected that the prime minister’s visit to Turkey will bring some respite in the prevailing economic crunch in Pakistan as some memoranda of understanding on trade and investment are likely to be inked between the two sides.

Invitation to invest In a late-night address on Thursday to the Turkish business fraternity in Ankara, Prime Minister Khan invited Turkish businessmen and investors to invest in various fields and industries in Pakistan, including construction, tourism and exploration of natural resources.

He said that his government had streamlined the governance system and removed red-tapism and hurdles in Pakistan to facilitate foreign investors. “We want to provide ease of doing business to the businessmen and investors for wealth and jobs creation,” he said.

The prime minister invited Turkish investors and construction firms to invest in his government’s five-year plan of building five million houses.

Earlier, the prime minister and his delegation arrived in Konya.

To pay homage to Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, the prime minister and his delegation visited the great Sufi saint’s mausoleum. He also visited the symbolic grave of Allama Iqbal located in the graveyard where Maulana Rumi’s mau­soleum stands.

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